1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



415 



them extract of tobacco, whale-oil, soap-suds, &c., 

 with good effect. Hogs and turkeys are exceed- 

 ingly fond of them, and it is probable that the 

 former will destroy a great many in the pupa 

 state, by turning them into the field after the 

 crop is gathered, which will of course decrease 

 their production the following season. 



The second insect, of which I have received 

 many specimens from Greenfield, Northfield, Shef- 

 field, Worcester, and other places, is an Aphis or 

 plant louse, belonging to the same family as those 

 email green lice which are so numerous on tender 

 Bhoots of various plants, rosebushes, apple trees, 

 cabbages, &c., but apparently an undescribed 

 species. It is a very small dark red insect, with 

 six blackish legs and long antennae of the same 

 color, and may be found on the heads of wheat, 

 and oats, between the grain and the stalk, suck- 

 ing the sap through a long slender tube which is 

 concealed beneath the body when not in use. The 

 grain not receiving the necessary amount of nu- 

 trition, will naturally become shrunken and dry 

 before fully ripe. These insects may be in a great 

 measure killed by building small fires on the wind- 

 ward side of a field attacked by them, and throw- 

 ing on wet straw, leather scraps or any other sub- 

 stance M'hich causes a great amount of smoke 

 without flame. A damp day, when the smoke 

 rolls slowly along near the ground, should be se- 

 lected for this operation for two obvious reasons ; 

 to prevent setting fire to the crop, and to allow 

 the smoke to filter through the stalks before ris- 

 ing. 



Among the specimens which were sent me of 

 the heads of wheat, with this louse upon it, I find 

 one or more of each of the three chief enemies of 

 plant-lice from time immemorial, viz. : the "lady- 

 bird," coc.einella novemnotata ; the green lace- 

 winged fly, clirysopa ; and the syrphus, a two- 

 winged fly, which in its larva state, as well as the 

 clirysopa, devours thousands of these pests annu- 

 ally, while the coccinella, in both the beetle and 

 the larva state, lives entirely upon them. I am 

 informed that the "lady-birds" are very numer- 

 ous among these lice, and if so, they should be 

 protected and cherished for the great good which 

 they do in keeping in check these pests. 



Francis G. Sanborn. 



Fitzwilliam, N. H., July 30, 1861. 

 Mr. Editor: — I send you to-day a few heads 

 of wheat selected from a field of three acres, sowed 

 May 3d, on the west side of a hill in the vicinity 

 of a mill pond. It was formerly cultivated and 

 mowed, but has been pastured during the last four 

 or five years. I broke it up this last spring, and 

 spread a good coat of compost on it, made from 

 my tannery, and also spread on it about fifty 

 bushels of ashes to the acre. A large part of the 

 field was almost destitute of vegetation, the grass 

 roots having mostly died out, though there were 

 some white or grey birches, and also wild cherry 

 growing on a part of it. The wheat looks very 

 well, but you will observe that the heads are cov- 

 ered with a little louse, or something of the kind, 

 which adhere very closely and firmly around the 

 root of the kernels. They are of various colors and 

 sizes, though mostly bordering on a brown, and 

 that appears to be the completion of them when 

 arrived at a certain age or size ; how they will 



look when they come to maturity, I cannot yet 

 tell. 



It is some four or five days since I first ob- 

 served them, and I am unable to see that they 

 have injured the wheat yet, but I am loth to be- 

 lieve that they mean it any good, though they may 

 not yet be large enough to do it any injury ; and 

 perhaps will not at all. Can you or any of your 

 readers give me any light about them, what they 

 are, or what they intend or will be likely to do, 

 and where they came from, and where they are 

 going, or what they will become ? &c., &c. 



The most of our wheat fields in this vicinity are 

 covered with the "varmint," — are they generally 

 so in the New England States ? I have seen no 

 one who has ever seen anything of the kind here 

 before. If they mean evil, what can we do to 

 guard against them or destroy them ? Can we 

 do anything ? 



I have another field containing about one and 

 a. half acres, sowed April 27, on an eastern expo- 

 sure, on land that had been cultivated one year, 

 which is now full in the milk, and on which I can 

 find but very few of the lice, as I call them, which 

 is very good. And still another acre, sowed May 

 9, on land cultivated last year, on which I find 

 very few as yet ; and still another field of half an 

 acre, sowed on green sward about the middle of 

 May, which is very stout ; and this last is covered 

 with the "varmints." This last has an eastern 

 exposure. Last year I raised about five acres of 

 wheat, but saw nothing of the kind. 



A. S. Kendall. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PROI'ITABLE POUXiTRY KAISING. 



Mr. Editor: — I see by your June number 

 that "I. R. B.," of Brookline, requests a few ad- 

 ditional items as to my success in making poul- 

 try so profitable. First, I have a good warm 

 coop with four rooms ; one with gravel and ashes 

 for sitting hens ; the middle room for feeding 

 and roosting ; one for chickens, till they are two 

 or three weeks old before turning out doors ; win- 

 dows on the roof and sides ; whitewashed every 

 spring, and the droppings taken out every morn- 

 ing in warm weather, and in winter every four or 

 five days. Nest boxes fourteen inches square, 

 set on the floor, handy to be taken out for clear- 

 ing and smoothing. Food, corn, oats, scraps, 

 pounded shells, kept before them during the 

 time the ground is frozen, and some kind of veg- 

 etable every day to take the place of grass. The 

 place for rambling during the summer is about 

 45 by 52 yards, one-third of which is occupied for 

 drying tan, the balance set with fruit trees, which 

 a few years ago were nearly destroyed by the 

 canker-worm, (which should be credited to the 

 fowls as labor,) now nearly disappeared. 



Salem, July, 1861. I. B. 



Poisoning Rats. — The following mode of pre- 

 paring poison for rats is recommended. Mix it 

 with corn meal, tie it in a small rag, making the 

 parcels as large as a hickory nut, then gi-ease the 

 rag on the outside with lard, and place it near the 

 burrows. The old rats will carry the poison to 

 their nests to their young, and the whole family 

 be destroyed. 



